Police release details of murderous Las Vegas rampage

Jun. 9, 2014
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Metropolitan Police Department officers hug near a Walmart on June 8 in Las Vegas. Two officers were reported shot and killed by two assailants at a pizza restaurant nearby. / Ethan Miller, Getty Images

by John Bacon and William M. Welch, USA TODAY

by John Bacon and William M. Welch, USA TODAY

The couple who walked into a Las Vegas restaurant and killed two police officers on Sunday then draped one body with a "don't tread on me" flag and swastika before pinning a menacing note on the other body, authorities said Monday.

Moments later, Jerad Miller, 31, and his wife Amanda Miller, 22, fatally shot another man in a nearby Walmart before officers cornered them, Assistant Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a press briefing. Amanda Miller then shot her husband and herself, he said.

McMahill said the restaurant shootings were captured on video.

"No doubt the suspects had some kind of ideology along the lines of militia and white supremacists," McMahill said. "They believe law enforcement is the oppressor."

The horror began unfolding at about 11:22 a.m. Sunday at CiCi's restaurant, where the officers were having lunch. McMahill said the Millers came in and Jerad Miller walked past the officers' booth, turned and pulled out a handgun, shooting Officer Igor Soldo, 31, in the head. The couple then shot Officer Alyn Beck, 41, multiple times, McMahill said.

The officers' bodies were dragged onto the ground, and McMahill said the flag and swastika were draped on Beck's body. A note saying that the attack was the beginning of a revolution was pinned on Soldo, McMahill said.

"All of Nevada mourns the tragic loss of our neighbors, our friends, and in the case of Officers Alyn Beck and Igor Soldo, our protectors,'' Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said in Washington.

He noted Beck was related to one of his staff and called for universal background checks for gun purchases as "a good start" on action to "prevent deranged individuals from carrying out such savage acts of violence.''

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After shooting the officers, the couple retreated to a nearby Walmart, fired a shot and warned everyone to get out. McMahill said Joseph Wilcox, 31, was in the store and was carrying a concealed weapon. Wilcox walked past Amanda Miller and confronted her husband. Amanda Miller then fatally shot Wilcox, McMahill said.

Police rushed to scene, and after a shootout the couple was trapped in a corner of the store, McMahill said. While officers were awaiting a SWAT team, Amanda Miller fatally shot her husband, then herself.

Hours later, police cordoned off the Oak Tree Apartments, and some residents told the Las Vegas Sun the pair lived there - and had bragged of plans to commit a mass shooting.

"They were handing out white-power propaganda and were talking about doing the next Columbine," neighbor Brandon Moore told the Sun.

Other residents, including Sue Hale, told the Sun the couple had claimed to be at Cliven Bundy's Nevada ranch during an April standoff between militia members and federal agents. The duo had professed strong support for Bundy, who had been cited for grazing his cattle on public land without a permit. Bundy has said he no knowledge of the couple.

"Yap, yap, yap. They were always running their mouths," Hale said of the duo.

Bundy's son, Ammon Bundy, said the Millers were asked to leave his father's ranch after being there a few days in the spring.

He called the couple "very radical" and said they did not "align themselves" with the protest's main issues.

"Not very many people were asked to leave," he said. "I think they may have been the only ones."

In Lafayette, Ind., Police Chief Pat Flannelly said his office was contacted by the Clark County, Nev., coroner's office and asked to "follow up with possible relatives here. We have information they were here for a time. ... They have ties to the area."

The couple married Sept. 22, 2012, and lived in the area until early this year. A Facebook photo posted by Amanda on Jan. 4, indicated they were leaving Lafayette.

Beck, a Las Vegas officer for more than a dozen years, was the married father of three. He was a senior patrol officer who had taught advanced officer skills training at the Las Vegas police academy.

Tracy Smith, a friend of Beck's, wrote on his blog, "My friend Alyn was a dynamite guy. He was a riot to be around. He was kind and funny. He was capable of ridiculously juvenile behavior but also shockingly profound intellectual depth."

Soldo, an eight-year veteran of the force, is survived by a wife and baby, police said.

Wal-Mart expressed its condolences in a statement and that the company is working with police on the investigation. CiCi's Pizza said in a statement the company was deeply saddened by the shooting and would keep the location closed until further notice.

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